In the early 1990s, Duke University gave more than 30,000 specimens of reptiles, fresh 

 water fish and amphibians. Seven years later, Frank Schwartz from the UNC Institute of Marine 

 Sciences in Morehead City gave over 500,000 aquatic specimens to the museum. 



Although the museum doesn't put a monetary value on specimeas, Bras well says 

 Schwartz's marine collection is quite valuable. "Specimens are irreplaceable if a site has 

 disappeared," he says. 



Schwartz's collection includes ajar of shark vertebrae found in 1986 at Shallotte. "These 

 are from 15 female and eight male sharks," says Braswell. 



The museum also has a backlog of material collected from stream surveys conducted by 

 the N.C. Wildlife Commission in the 1960s. 



"These specimens give us comparative information," says Braswell. "You can go back to 

 the stream now and find out what happened to certain species." 



Scientists, policy makers and educators rely on the museum's collection and data for many 

 purposes — from assessing pollutant levels at specific localities to biodiversity research. 



"I had tremendous cooperation from the research lab on the identification of some of the 

 fossil bivalves and ostracods that we are finding in an Amazon research project with teachers," 

 says Lundie Spence, North Carolina Sea Grant marine education specialist. "These researchers 

 are a wealth of information on many levels." 



The museum's collection dates back to 1890 when two brothers — museum director H.H. 

 Brimley and entomologist C.S. Brimley — wanted a place to showcase some of their skins and 

 specimens. 



"H.H. was into alligators and whales and brought the big mammals," says Braswell. "C.S. 

 was into amphibians and reptiles and was responsible for early collections at the museum." 



For many years, the specimens were housed in the basement of the old N.C. Museum of 

 Natural Sciences in downtown Raleigh. 



In 1998, most of the collection was moved to the new Reedy Creek facility with labs and 

 large storage areas. The skeletons and skins of mammals and birds remain in the downtown 

 facility as well as the rock, mineral and fossil collection. 



To protect the specimens from ultraviolet damage, each storage room has ultraviolet 

 shields on the lights. The areas are kept at 68 degrees. 



"We couldn't stay downtown because of the large amount of alcohol — a potential 

 hazard," says Braswell. "With many thousands of gallons of alcohol, we have to follow 

 industrial standards. To move into the new museum would have been prohibitively expensive." 



The museum's collection is separated into three areas — fish, aquatic invertebrates and 

 amphibians, reptiles and small mammals and birds. 



"I call it a morgue because it is full of preserved bodies," says Wayne Starnes, the 

 museum's fish curator. 



Fish Archives 



The largest collection includes more than a million fish specimens. "We have the fifth- 

 largest regional collection of fish in the United States," says Starnes. We have a lot of freshwater 

 species from the mid-Atlantic region and a lot of marine fishes from the western Atlantic." 



The fish specimens are arranged on shelves in phylogenetic order from the most primitive 

 species to the most advanced. 



"Our collections are like a library," says Braswell. 'We have all the species filed so we can 

 find them. We have data on the specimens on computer files and backup data off-site. The 

 collection and data are permanent. For hundreds of years, the specimens can be used as a 

 research tool." 



The primitive fish include a lamprey that migrates up fresh streams to reproduce, as well as 

 a big jar of shark jaws found off Cape Lookout. 



On the floor, a large tank houses big shark, swordfish and grouper. 



Continued 



